0 Residency wrap
I really could not think of much but getting a good night’s sleep for a couple days after my Royal Roads residency ended last Friday. Now that I have had time to get through the rest of one of my two textbooks and finished the first of my two post-residency assignments, I can look back over the past few weeks and see where I am, where I have come from and where (I think) I am going ….
People and castles
Notwithstanding the little barrack dorm in which I spent 12 days, the campus experience was great. Our group seemed to gel very well and I sense the two weeks was the beginning of some pretty good friendships. The intensity allowed us to focus on group project work and start this degree on a reasonably even playing field, while helping us better understand places in which we can all improve to make the distance group work more successful over the next couple years. A good indicator of the overall intensity was the level to which people cut loose after our banquet. A release was clearly needed.
We were told that the reason the RRU programs are so much more successful than traditional distance programs (95% success versus 50%) is that they throw short, intense residencies into the mix. I believe it. Distance education can be isolating and will often not work for learning styles which depend on relationships and interaction with other people. I believe that having faces, names and personal relationships will help people to feel more inclined to put in extra effort at times when motivation may be ebbing. I also think the beautiful grounds, peacocks, Hatley Castle and general ambiance might have a little to do with it, too.
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